At the beginning of April 2022, Thomas Zimmermann will take up the position of the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of FREE NOW, the European urban mobility super app. Marc Berg, the previous CEO, is stepping down from this position after four years for personal reasons.
Marc Berg contributed significantly to the development of FREE NOW and its transformation from a taxi app into a leading Mobility-as-a-Service platform in Europe. Currently, the platform brings together many brands of external mobility operators and enables the rental of their equipment via the FREE NOW app. In this operating model, FREE NOW offers users a complete mobility ecosystem, whose operational foundation is ride-hailing and taxis, and whose development towards MaaS takes place through the integration of e-scooters, e-mopeds, e-bikes and carsharing from well-known brands. Thanks to such a developed partner network, FREE NOW makes urban mobility more efficient and sustainable without adding new vehicles to city streets.
Thomas Zimmermann, the new CEO of FREE NOW, has been associated with the company since 2018. Until now, he served as CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) and was responsible for FREE NOW's communications and marketing activities. When taking up that position, he contributed to building the platform's efficiency, combined with a strategic repositioning of the brand. Before joining FREE NOW, Zimmermann held various leadership positions in the investment industry, at companies such as IONIQ Group and Goodgame Studios, a leading online games producer.
FREE NOW is one of the few technology start-ups whose success has helped it become a major player in Europe. Marc Berg led this evolution over the past few years in a decidedly effective way. My goal is to continue this positive development and further strengthen FREE NOW as the leading Mobility-as-a-Service platform in Europe. We want to position ourselves as a provider of sustainable and efficient mobility in European cities. Together with further partners and by integrating further mobility solutions, we will make our offering even more attractive – says Thomas Zimmermann.
FREE NOW's success is also supported by its main shareholders: Mercedes-Benz Mobility and BMW Group.
Gero Götzenberger, Director of Strategy and Investments at Mercedes-Benz Mobility, said: We would like to thank Marc Berg very much for his extremely valuable and committed leadership at FREE NOW and for contributing to the platform's success. He played a key role in shaping and developing urban mobility development within the Mercedes-Benz Mobility and BMW Group joint venture. We wish him all the best in his future plans. At the same time, we look forward to working with Thomas Zimmermann, who has accompanied FREE NOW's development for years.
FREE NOW records strong growth
In 2021, despite the pandemic, FREE NOW achieved growth of around one third in rides completed on the platform and increased its number of users to 54 million. The number of multimodal rides, i.e. by e-scooter, e-bike, e-moped and per-minute car, even increased severalfold in 2021. In addition, in recent weeks new partnerships were announced with mobility providers such as SIXT and Dott, whose vehicles can already be rented and paid for via FREE NOW in various European cities.
In 2022, FREE NOW plans to integrate more than ten new mobility partners and their vehicles. As a result, sustainable urban mobility options will be available to even more residents of European cities.
About FREE NOW:
FREE NOW is an urban mobility super app, offering the largest choice of transport options in Europe. More than 54 million FREE NOW users from 16 countries and 170 cities have the ability to travel from point A to B by choosing from various urban mobility options, in one app. Thanks to deep integration, i.e. from rental to payment, with external mobility operators, FREE NOW users can order the nearest taxi or ride with a driver, as well as rent an e-scooter, e-moped, e-bike or per-minute car. FREE NOW is an aggregator of services from external operators, with the ambition to positively influence the efficiency of mobility and the sustainable development of cities, without adding more vehicles to the streets. The FREE NOW platform is headquartered in Germany and is supported by its main shareholders: BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility. It employs more than 1,850 people in 27 offices around the world.
